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POLAND: '"' 



SKETCH OF HER HISTORY. 



TREATMENT OP THE JEWS, AND LAWS CONCERNING THEM-POLISH 
SERES AND THEIR FREEDOM BY THE CZAR ALEXANDER II. 
-CAUSE OE THE PRESENT POLISH INSURRECTION- 
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OE THE SOVEREIGNS 
OE POLAND, AND THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS 
IN THE REIGN OE EACH. 



M. B. CZECHOWSKI. 



What is truth? "—Pilate. 



NEW YORK : 
BAKER & GODWIN, PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS, 

Printing-House Square, opposite City Hall. 

1863. 



.Cflf ■ 
fin 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 

M. B. CZECHOWSKI, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
District of New York. 




To my Dearly Beloved Brother in Christ, 

PHINEAS STOWE, 
Minister of the Gospel, Pastor First B. Mariner's Church, Boston, 

THE GENUINE FRIEND OF POLAND, 

AND GOOD SAMARITAN OF ALL THE SUFFERING AND OPPRESSED, 

This Little Work, 

Js a marfc of ^rite 3trtenb${jip, 

IS CEEEBFULL Y DEDICA TED, 
BY THE AUTHOR. 



POLAND : 

SKETCH OF HEE HISTOEY. 



At this important era in the history of Poland, 
when, after nearly a century of suffering and humil- 
iation, she has risen in her might, determined to cast 
off the hated yoke of her oppressors or perish in the 
conflict, I consider it my duty as one of her unfor- 
tunate exiles, to give the American public a sketch 
of her past history, some of the causes of her decline 
and loss of independence ; and, then, touch upon 
an important question of the present time — the causes 
of the enfranchisement of the serfs by the Czar Alex- 
ander and the present Polish insurrection. 

The record of the Polish nation commences about 
the year A. D. 550, but the country was probably 
settled by Slavonian people several centuries pre- 
viously. The Slavonian race, comprising about one 
hundred millions of people, speak four different 
dialects, viz., the Russian, Bohemian, Polish, and 
Slavonian proper. The first is the language of the 
i* 



6 HISTOKY OF POLAND. 

vast region comprising the Russian Empire; the 
Bohemian, of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia ; the 
Polish, of Poland and Lithuania ; while that called 
Slavonian proper, having undergone less alteration 
than the other Slavonian dialects, is the language 
of Albania, Servia, Bulgaria, "Wallachia, Moldavia, 
Bosnia, Dalmatia, Illyria, Croatia, Slavonia, Car- 
niola, Styria, &c. 

History throws but little light upon the settle- 
ment of Poland, or its condition for several centuries 
afterward. Christianity had not yet shed its benign 
light upon its people — they were still enveloped in 
the darkness of paganism. The name of Poland 
was derived from pole (plain), the country being a 
rich virgin plain ; and here its people lived for sev- 
eral centuries, on their undisputed soil, in wild and 
proud independence. March 5th, A. D. 965, 
Mieczyslas, Duke of Poland, married Dombrowka, 
daughter of Boleslas I. of Bohemia, a Catholic 
prince, who made it an essential condition of the 
marriage of his daughter with Mieczyslas that he 
should embrace the Catholic religion. The Polish 
prince accepted the condition, and, when a messenger 
brought him word that Dombrowka was on her 
way to Gniezna (the first Polish city), the nation 
were notified of his approaching baptism and mar- 
riage, and invited to be present. He was baptized 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 7 

by Bohowid, a Bohemian priest, and his court also ; 
and Dobieslans Persztein, a Bohemian lord, had the 
honor to be his godfather ( ! ! ). Thus Poland was 
bound to Home, while the most of the Slavonian 
race followed the authority of the Greek Patriarchs 
of Constantinople. It was also bound to Germany, 
for the German Emperor was the secular arm of the 
Boman Pontiff. It is evident that Poland was not 
then a poor country, for history records that, in the 
year A. D. one thousand, Otto III., the German 
Emperor, visited Prince Boleslas at Gniezna, where 
he was entertained three days with great magnifi- 
cence. The castle of this prince was of wood, but 
its interior was very costly, the walls being orna- 
mented with pictures in gold. History also in- 
forms us that the servants of Boleslas put upon 
the tables more and more costly plate of silver and 
gold, and that, afte* each repast, all was given to 
the Emperor and his attendants, with all of value 
the room contained, besides costly gifts of clothing 
and money. 

Otto was astonished at the sight of such splendor, 
and especially with the open-hearted generosity of 
the Polish prince. Afterward he took his own 
crown off his head, and put it on the head of Boles- 
las, thus raising him to the dignity of king. He 
made with him a treaty of peace and amity, ad- 



8 HISTORY OF POLAND. 

rnitted him to his own council, and gave him the 
same power as he had himself in the affairs of the 
church, which was approved and confirmed bj the 
Eoman Pontiff. ISTine bishoprics were then estab- 
lished, at the head of which were placed Italian, 
French and Bohemian bishops. But Catholicism, so 
favorable to the strengthening of monarchical power, 
was propagated slowly. The Polish people did not 
receive it with favor, and were converted to it, in 
general, not by conviction, but by arms and bad 
treatment, and were not reconciled to it for two cen- 
turies. It riveted their chains, and favored the 
absolute power of the king, and the irruption and 
usurpation of strangers. The introduction into 
Poland of different kinds of monks, from other 
countries, in the time of the crusades, and the cru- 
sades themselves, changed this once happy country 
into the abode of fanaticism, bigotry, and anarchy. 
King "Wladislas Lokietek, a wise and good prince, 
who reigned from A. D. 1296 to 1333, did much to 
destroy the power of the crusaders and restore Po- 
land to its former prosperity. His son, Kasimir the 
Great, inherited the virtues of his father. He was 
a legislator, and developed the ameliorations which 
his father commenced. His aim was the happiness 
of his people, on which account he was called the 
King of the Peasants, a title which effaced and sur- 



HISTORY OF POLAND. \f 

passed that of the great. Kasimir encouraged the 
arts : there are still to be seen traces of monuments 
which appertain to the epoch of his reign. He 
founded the university of Cracow in A. D. 1347 ; 
this was an immense benefit for civilization. Poland, 
thirsting for light and science, found in the univer- 
sity the knowledge of these rights ; and, as religious 
toleration permitted all sects to receive instruction 
there, it spread the light of science, which aided 
immensely the progress of the nation. The reign 
of Sigismund I. was a glorious and prosperous 
epoch for Poland. Under Sigismund industry and 
knowledge reached their aj)ogee ; to this grand age 
was due the genius of Copernicus, whose new light 
on the solar system vivified the minds of Gallileo 
and Kepler. A celebrated writer has said : " For- 
merly each nation regarded itself as the center of 
the world, around which gravitated the celestial 
bodies. 

" Copernicus discovered the true system of the 
physical world, and it seems that the Polish nation 
alone presented the true movement of the moral 
world ; she acknowledged that each nation ought 
to make part of a whole, and circulate as planets 
around their center ; that each nation contributes 
to the ensemble and the necessary equilibrium, and 
that it is only blind egotism that refuses to acknowl- 



10 HISTORY OF POLAND. 

edge this truth. I repeat, the Polish nation is a 
philosophy of inspiration, a Copernicus in the moral 
world. She is not comprehended, she is persecuted ; 
it matters not, she progresses always; she makes 
disciples and proselytes, and her crown of thorns is 
a crown of glory." Sigismund Augustus II., who 
succeeded his father, was faithful to the noble tra- 
ditions which he left. The other nations envied the 
Polish splendor. With Augustus died the race of 
Jagellon, A. D. 1572, and we touch the epoch of 
the decadence of Poland. 



TREATMENT OF THE JEWS, AND LAWS CON- 
CERNING THEM. 

[Translated from J. N. Janowski.] 

When the Jews entered Poland is unknown.* 
According to Naruszewicz, the Jews multiplied in 
Poland from immemorial time. " The Poles were 
rich in gold and silver, and the land abundant in 
fruits," said Mr. Grabowski : f " and the commerce 
large, and there were many Jews ;" and this was 

* History of Gallus, vol. vi. p. 13, speaking of the beautiful 
Judith, the first wife of Wladislas Herman, says : " Multos Chris- 
tianos de servitute Judeorum, suis facultatibus redimebat." Also, 
Anonymous, ed. Sommersberg, vol. i. p. 24. 

f In his account of the Jews in 1611, vol. iv. p. 3. 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 11 

true, for all historians acknowledge that nearly all 
the commerce was in the hands of Israelites. The 
dreadful persecutions of the Jews in Bohemia, in 
1096, brought many of them from that country to 
Poland-. JSTot long ago there was published an Ara- 
bian geography by Eb. Haukul, who lived in the 
beginning of the tenth century, which testifies that 
near the Caspian Sea and the river Alet, or Yolga, 
was a very flourishing kingdom, noted for its high 
cultivation, in which the king was a Jew. He had 
9 kadich and 1200 soldiers. The capital city was 
named Bat ; and the inhabitants were of all relig- 
ions. Another Arabian biographer, Massondi, of 
the same period, says : " In another capital city, 
Khozarow, there were great numbers of Jews, Chris- 
tians, and pagans." The king and the principal min- 
isters and officers of government were all Jews ; but 
not by birth. They embraced the Jewish faith 
under Kalif Harun Al-Rachid, in the second century 
of the Hegira, or the eighth of our era. Massondi 
called the capital Amol. How far we can trust in 
this testimony, and how large were the kingdoms, 
it is impossible to know.* But we must say that 



$ We read many fabulous stories in the journal of Peritsol ; 
nevertheless, we read in vol. iv. of JNovi Commentarii Societatis 
Gbthingensis, discussion entitled, " Guith," Francisci Valesii, His- 
toria rerum in Homeritide saeculo VII. cum a rege Judeo contra 



12 HISTORY OF POLAND. 

the testimony of Nestor is very clear, that the Jews 
from the- capital of Khozarow tried to convert to 
their religion "Wladimir the Great, to whom he an- 
swered : " Now that you have no Jerusalem, God 
is not gracious to you." By which we judge that 
the Jews were at that time an important people, and, 
therefore, could remove from place to place, and 
settle according to their pleasure. In the eleventh 
century there were many Jewish authors in Russia. 
In the thirteenth century, Jews were proprietors of 
villages. Kashmir the Great protected them. He 
gave them many privileges, and permitted them to 
build two cities, one near Cracow, another near 
Lublin, both of which bear his name. Commerce 
flourished under the shadow of freedom ; and the 
Jews blessed God for their dear adopted country, 
and common justice. 

We will here show the privileges given them by 
Boleslas, and confirmed by Kasimir, and also by 
Withold of Lithuania : 

Art. 1. " When there is a process against a Jew ; 
when it is necessary to convict a Jew of crime, there 
are necessary three witnesses — two catholics and one 
Jew — acquainted with the Jewish law." This con- 
dition at first seems unjust in a civilized age ; but in 



Christianos, tam ab Habessinis ad bos ulciscendos gestarum. First 
part, p. 1, and second part, p. 40. JohnN". Janowski on the Polish 
Literature. Poitier, 1837. 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 13 

the time when the Jesuitical officers of Government 
were oppressors of the Jews, when bigotry and fa- 
naticism represented them as the murderers of Chris- 
tian children* and enemies of the human race, the 
people considered every crime committed against 
them lawful. Three times a year, with great cere- 
mony, a Jew was publicly slapped in the face before 
the parish church, as a punishment of the dishonor 
Jesus suffered from their ancestors in Jerusalem. 
In Bitterik, in 1159, during fifteen days in the month 
of April, previous to the Sunday called the Sunday 
"de quasimodo," the people were accustomed to 
stone every Jew to be found in the streets. The Cru- 
saders increased much the hatred against the Jews ; 
therefore, nobody can be astonished that the Jews 
had no confidence in the catholics who witnessed 
against them. 

Art. 2, 3. Jews have the right to be pawn- 
brokers, &c. 

Art. 4. When there are quarrels between Jews, 
the fines shall go into the king's treasury. 

Art. 5. A Christian injuring a Jewish ceme- 
tery shall be punished by the confiscation of his 
property. 

Art. 6. Any person throwing a stone into a 
Jewish synagogue, must pay into the government 
treasury two pounds of pepper, or its worth in money. 
Art. 7. A Jew cannot be forced to swear by the 
ten commandments, except for the value of fifty 
marks of silver. In small matters, he shall swear 
before the door of the synagogue. 

Art. 9. A Jew accused of killing a Christian 
child shall have three Catholics and three Jews for 
witnesses. If the accusation is found to be false, 



* It is a monkish story that the Jews use in Passover time the 
blood of Christian children in their cakes. 



14 HISTOKY OF POLAND. 

the accuser shall submit to the same punishment 
that the Jew would receive if found guilty. 

•According to Zuchowski, during 300 years, the 
Jews murdered eighty-six Christian children. A de- 
cree of the Polish tribunal, 1636, records that one 
such crime was discovered and punished. In the 
Archives of the crown we find another, recorded in 
1793, similar to the first. But we confess (says John 
E". Janowski), with sadness of heart, that in both of 
these cases the confession of the crime was drawn 
out by torture. The horrible events connected with 
these unjust judgments are represented in a large 
painting in the village of Wojslawice, three miles 
from Krasnystaw. To this day many Catholics in 
Europe and Asia believe this absurd charge against 
the Jews. 

Art. 10. It is not permitted to steal Jewish chil- 
dren, and whoever is guilty of this crime shall be 
punished as a thief. 

The stealing of Jewish children, for the sake of 
baptizing them, was considered by many Catholics 
a very pious act. Julius Cesar reproached the Cath- 
olics who stole Jewish children ; and in nearly every 
nation where the Jews were settled, we find the 
same lamentation of the Jewish parents on account 
of the violence done to the parental relationship. 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 15 

Art. 11. Jews are free to buy any merchandise, 
and to touch bread and other provisions. 

Long before, it was forbidden them to touch any 
provisions Christians might buy. In the tenth cen- 
tury, the Archbishop of Lyons, Agobard, insisted 
that such a law was necessary. 

Art. 12. The jurisdiction over the Jews belongs 
to the king or his delegates. 

Art. 13. The justice of peace shall judge a Jew, 
unless it shall be against the wish of the Jew 
himself. Judgment shall be given at the designated 
place — Jew being judged by Jew. 

Art. 17. The Jews, on their Sabbath or holy 
days, cannot be forced to deliver a gage. 

Art. 18. If the Jews call for help in the night 
against thieves, and Christians refuse their help, they 
shall be punished. 

Kasimir the Great died, and the execution of his 
laws for the amelioration of the condition of the 
Jews depended upon the caprice of his successors. 
Louis, who succeeded him, possessed not the virtues 
of his uncle ; he decreed the expulsion of the Jews. 
In the time of "Wladislas Jagellon, a certain priest, 
Budek, excited the people of Cracow against Israel- 
ites by accusing them of having killed a Christian 
child. Many Jews were sacrificed to the fanaticism 
of the Catholics. They were accused of stealing a 
holy wafer from the church, and piercing it with 
knives. This wafer is preserved till the present time 



16 HISTORY OF POLAND. 

in the Cathedral of Posen, and is exhibited every 
year in the month of June in the procession of Cor- 
pus Christi. sancta simplicitas ! Several Jews 
were obliged to walk before this procession with 
butcher -knives in their hands. This practice wa& 
discontinued not long since, for the consideration of 
a large sum of money paid by the Jews. A similar 
circumstance occurred in Cracow, in the same place 
where is now the large and rich church of the regular 
canons. Wladislas Jagellon ordered the writing of 
a new statute to all the priests in the diocese of 
Gniezna, saying that "Poland is a new Christian 
country, therefore it is resolved that Catholics can 
have no feast with Jews, neither dance with them 
at weddings, nor buy meat from them. Resolved 
that Jews have a large circle of red cloth fastened 
upon the back of their coats ; and if they neglect 
this, the bishop of the diocese has power to punish 
them. Christians can have no connection with 
them. They cannot go to the baths in company^ 
with them. They can have but one synagogue in 
any city. Above all, the special rule is, that in 
places inhabited by Jews, from which priests have 
profit, the bishop can determine how much the Jews 
shall pay the priests." This law was recorded and 
preserved in the synodal constitution till Sigismund 
III., 1630. The mass of the people who took arms- 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 17 

to destroy the Turks, in 1464, afterward turned them 
against the Jews in Cracow, and many of them were 
massacred. The imbecile magistrate who permitted 
this massacre was severely punished by Kasimir Ja- 
gellon. In the reign of John Albert, the Jews 
were transported from Cracow to the city of Kazi- 
mierz, where they have remained till the present time. 
In the year 1496, a law w T as passed that the Jews can- 
not have greater privileges than Christians, and that 
if they have advanced money to buy property they 
must lose it. At last an article was added to the 
laws concerning them, without explanation : "If 
the Jews enjoy any privilege contrary to the law of 
God, it must be taken from them." Alexander,, 
brother of John Albert, tried to exterminate the 
Jews, if we can believe the testimony of his flat- 
terer Zaborowski.* In 1505, when the statutes were 
compiled, the privileges of Boleslas and Kashmir 
the Great were approved, with the remark that 
"these privileges were of no value, but would 
rather serve against the Jews — that he could not 
approve such privileges." Przyluskif praised Alex- 
ander because he refused to receive a rich present 
of money from them. "We, too, praise the repug- 

* Jacobi Zaborowski, Canon of Sandomir ad Alexandrum Re- 
gem, 1502 : apud Halter, Cracoviae. 

f Statutes of 1553, published in Glossie. 
2* 



18 HISTORY OF POLAND. 

nance to avarice. But we are astonished that a 
writer pretending to be a legislator did not consider 
that the law which Alexander did not sanction was 
still a law.* In the reign of Sigismund I. the Jews 
were horribly persecuted and despoiled in Bohemia, 
and found protection in Poland. There was great 
controversy in the Polish Diet on the subject of the 
treatment of the Jews. One party was for expelling 
them from the kingdom, another for taking all com- 
merce from their hands, and another for granting 
them the same privileges that other citizens en- 
joyed, f The love of truth compels us to say that 
the Acts of Diets, by Chojenski, and the Life of 
Peter Kmita, by an anonymous author, give testi- 
mony that many persons intensified the persecution 
of the Jews, or abated it. A very ridiculous charge 
against the Jews was made in 1538, which was often 
repeated, that they bought oxen and other products 
in Wallachia and other parts of Poland, and trans- 
ported them to other countries, thus impoverishing 
'Poland. The Catholic clergy, first by their publi- 
cations, and by their official resolutions of 1542, 
many times renewed, demanded that all Jewish 
synagogues should be destroyed, and only a limited 



* John N. Janowski, de Judeis. 

•j- Acts of Diets, 1532 and '34, vol. xvi., by Tomicki, 



HISTOEY OF POLAND. 1£ 

number of Jews should be allowed to remain in 
Poland, and that all laws which had before been 
passed against them should be executed. The un- 
fortunate Jews defended themselves as best they 
could, more, however, with their money than by 
their writings. One anonymous volume was pub- 
lished by them.* The author took the ground that 
religions change according to time and civilization, 
as is proved by the reform of Luther ; and that it is- 
not the will of Providence that men of different be- 
liefs should persecute each other ; that the Jews by 
their commerce added much to the wealth of the 
country, instead of impoverishing it ; and that it 
would be much wiser to tolerate them with their 
honest confession of faith in one God, Jehovah, than 
to demand of them hypocrisy. This volume also 
states that in Poland there were but few Polish me- 
chanics, and but 500 merchants, while the Jews had 
3,200 large merchants and 9,600 mechanics. Now, 
they remark: "Let the Catholic merchants use 
more economy, and not spend their money foolishly 
in dancing and dissipation, &c, and sell their mer- 
chandise more cheaply than the Jews, and all will 
buy of them, and they can become rich." 



* Ad quaerelam mercatorum Cracoviensium responsum Judeo- 
rum de mercantura. MDXXXIX. 



20 HISTOEY OF POLAND. 

At last, say they, " we take the liberty to say 
we will not submit to an ecclesiastical jurisdiction 
or decree of priests ; we owe only obedience and 
submission to our king, from whom we have assur- 
ance of protection." "We will now cast a glance 
at the laws relating to the Jews under the reign of 
Sigismund. To keep custom houses, or hold other 
public offices, and to trade in villages, is forbidden 
to Jews. The Jews that live in cities and villages 
that are the property of the king can expect no 
protection from him.* They shall wear yellow 
caps.f If a Jew ask any privilege, or if he take any 
certificate or other paper from government, he must 
pay whatever price may be demanded of him. 
The taxes of the Jews were twice as great, propor- 
tionately, as were the Christians (catholics). In 
Lithuania the Rabbins were free from taxes4 
There, one Jew was appointed commissioner be- 
tween the king and Jews.g In 1550, in the reign 
of Sigismund Augustus, several Jews that were ac- 
cused of stealing a holy wafer were burned alive, 
in the presence of the JSTuncio Lippomanus. This 
king passed a law by which every head, male and 

* 1539, V. L. 1, p. 550. 
f 1538, Y. L. 1, p. 525. 
% 1506, V. L. VII, &c. 

§ The first who was appointed was Michael, of Brzescia ; thus 
originated the Order of Arch-Rabbins. 



HISTOEY OF POLAND. 21 

female, was obliged to pay a tax of a Polish florin. 
The Jews that had titles of nobility were exempt. 
" It is forbidden Jews, under penalty of death, to 
buy and sell horses."* " It is forbidden them to 
have Christian servants." In Lithuania, Sigis- 
mund Augustus notified the Rabbins that he would 
be their judge. He forbade them to wear gold 
chains and precious stones in their girdle and 
swords. Females only were permitted to dress 
richly. In the reign of Henry Walezy, the Jews 
were accused again in Lithuania of the murder of 
a Christian child. The famous Jesuit, Skarga, put 
the name of this child in the book of holy martyrs ; 
but Henry's successor, Stephen Batory, published 
this edict: "The nation will cease to accuse the 
Jews of the murder of Christian children, as they 
hold no such murderous doctrine." Under this 
reign, a certain poet, Klonowicz, ridiculed them 
and exposed them to scorn. During the reign of 
Sigismund III. the Roman Hierarchy took the 
liberty to fight against the synagogues ; and this 
miserable custom prevails to this day. Many libel- 
ous books were published against them in his reign. 
We will mention here a few authors. Przeslaw 
Mojecki, in 1598, published a book entitled " The 

* Vol. L. 2, p. 607. 



22 HISTORY OF POLAND. 

Atrocity of the Jews," 2d edition in 1618 ; 3d ed., 
1649. Mieczynski published in 1618, "Mirror of 
the Polish Crown," " Great Offences and Annoy- 
ance from the Jews." In these two books the au- 
thors gave vent to all that Jesuitical fury could in- 
vent, and religious fanaticism conceive. These 
writers poisoned many minds against the poor Is- 
raelites. We find another volume, entitled "Un- 
bridled Liberty of the Jews," by Waglicyusz, 
Cracow, 1648. Still another, entitled "Lament 
for the Children Murdered by Jews." Many other 
books were written at that period, whose titles 
prove the great partiality and folly of the authors. 
Steszkowski, a physician, enraged that Jewish doc- 
tors had greater practice than himself, published a 
book against employing physicians from that unbe- 
lieving nation. He says in this book, that " every 
one who employs a Jew or Tartar as a physician 
will be destroyed, soul and body ;" it was written 
by a monk. Dr. Steszkowski himself wrote a book 
in which he advocated the idea that the cholera 
and all pestilences were sent as a judgment from 
heaven on account of the protection the govern- 
ment extended to the Jews. According to a Li- 
thuanian statute, Neophytes were admitted to the 
title of nobility. But even this law had not much 
value, because, when their posterity increased in 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 23 

riches and influence, there was another statute that 
obliged them to sell their property within two 
years, under the penalty of confiscation.* But the 
constitution of 1768, p. 803, forbade the execution of 
this Jesuitical law. During the reign of Michael 
Wisniowiecki, the Jews were pillaged, and accused, 
without proof, of being traitors to their country in 
favor of Turkey. In the reign of John Sobieski, 
the laws forbade the persecution of the Jews. The 
act of the consistory of Bishops shows much mad- 
ness in the clergy against King Sobieski, because 
he gave them protection ; but the Jews called him 
" Son of the sun, King of Kings, and the savior of 
the nation." The king was accused before the 
senate, June 16th, 1862, of being too gracious to 
the Jews, and treating them too kindly. In the 
reign of Augustus II., the furious soldiers oppressed 
the Jews without measure. Long before the Polish 
church refused to submit to the authority of the 
Council of Basle ; but they complied with that 
ordinance of the same council which authorized 
Catholics to preach in Jewish synagogues. One 
such mission in Lemberg was protected by the sol- 
diers, who compelled the Jews to listen to the 
preaching of the priests. In Mazove, the Polish 

* Constitution of 1764, Tit. Neofiti, V. L. 7, p. 44. ' 



24 HISTORY OF POLAND. 

citizens passed a decree at the Synod of Plock, 
threatening with severe punishment those who 
gave protection to the Jews, or rented them prop- 
erty. In the reign of Stanislas Augustus, the title 
of Arch-Kabbin was abolished. Many of the Jews 
became agriculturists, and were freed from the poll- 
tax of a florin yearly. In 1794, when the nation 
was in despair, the Jews made enormous sacrifices 
and fought with great bravery under General *Kos- 
ciuszko, showing that they loved their country and 
were willing to suffer for it. We can hardly de- 
scribe the bravery of the noble Cracovien Israelites 
in 1846 and '48, and their great sacrifices. Thou- 
sands were slain in the streets of Cracow and Kasi- 
mir, and thousands, in common with other Polish 
patriots, are now exiles. Our fatherland is theirs 
also ; for it they are still ready to suffer and die, as 
are we ! They know that the horrible persecution 
they have suffered came not from the true Polish 
people, but from our enemies, who wished to divide 
in order to destroy us — and, unfortunately, suc- 
ceeded before the nation was aware of their diaboli- 
cal purposes, which we all, martyrs for suffering 
Poland, know well. Oh ! how bitter has been our 
experience, and how dearly have we paid for the 
sins of our fathers and our own. May Grod have 
mercy -on us, and take from us the malediction that 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 25 

nas been poured on us without mercy ! and may the 
present struggle for our common liberty unite us 
all as true brethren, that, if we are ever permitted 
to return to the dear land from which we are exiled, 
we may dwell together in love as the children of 
one Father, convincing each other of our errors 
with the spirit of love instead of hatred and perse- 
cution ! 

All intelligent persons are aware that the 
GREAT REFORMATION broke the chains of 
darkness and superstition, and enabled the people 
better to understand their true dignity. Poland, 
passionate for truth, was first to welcome this light. 
Princes, bishops, nobles, and priests, cordially em- 
braced the doctrine of the Reformation. The na- 
tional heart recoiled with affright when, a short 
time afterwards, the Jesuits insinuated themselves 
into Poland; but liberty guaranteed security to 
their establishments. They employed there, in 
order to root and spread themselves, the same dis- 
simulation that served them so admirably else- 
where. Nothing was unlawful for them. Their 
exclusive organization, their maxims and their con- 
science, fertile in all sorts of mental restrictions, 
rendered good all means possible for success. By 
their insinuating manners they gained the protection 
of bishops and of many opulent families ; they se- 



2b HISTORY OF POLAND. 

duced the confidence of King Batory ; they pos- 
sessed the conscience of Sigismund III. They per- 
suaded King Sigismund not to give public offices to 
protestants. As to the Jews, there were, of course, 
no public offices for them ; they were horribly mal- 
treated and persecuted (the religion that caused 
such cruelties could be no other than " the mystery 
of iniquity," 2 Thess. ii. 7) ; so that all dignities 
and functions which depended upon royal nomina- 
tion, were more and more inaccessible to them. 
The Jesuits opened their schools in Posen in 1572 ; 
in Wilna, 1579 ; in Kalisz, Piotrkow, Cracow, and 
other places, in 1595. The echo of new, superior, 
and classical instruction filled their schools, and 
even the protestants were so imprudent as to send 
their children. A new generation, all Jesuitical, 
disciplined themselves. Their preachers, by ser- 
monizing the people continually, and by theological 
disputations in the Latin tongue — which was in- 
comprehensible to the people — with the protestants 
in the churches and colleges, always endeavoring 
to have the last word, imposed on the multitude by 
their zeal, their ardor, and their knowledge. Thus, 
devotion and fervor gained them followers daily, 
and aversion to the protestants and Jews became 
venomous. This Jesuitism, which increased greatly 
the power of the aristocracy, had little regard for 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 27 

the lower classes of the people. The nation was 
divided not only into catholics, protestants, and 
Jews, but also into magnates, nobles, bourgeoise, 
and peasants ; the last class being destitute of the 
rights of citizens, and much oppressed. A modern 
writer on Poland says of this period: "The in- 
tolerance and obscurantism introduced by the Jes- 
uits sapped the foundations of the Republic." 
"With the eighteenth century came the disasters of 
Poland ; intolerance, with its cruelties, wars, pesti- 
lence, and misery. The country became the prey 
of Tartars, Muscovites, Swedes, Brandeburgians ; 
they carried everywhere death and conflagrations ; 
the villages were deserted, the cities, formerly so 
populous, fell to ruins. More than three millions 
of inhabitants died in the reign of John Kasi- 
mir (1648 to 1668). The Tartars alone carried 
away in this reign 1,246,000 prisoners ; nearly 
200,000 persons died of pestilence in Cracow and 
its environs in A. D. 1652. The power of the Jes- 
uits continued to increase, and the state of affairs 
in the kingdom became worse and worse till 1763, 
when King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski ratified 
a decree of the Diet against evangelical Christians, 
depriving them of the privilege of worshiping God 
according to the dictates of their conscience, and 
excluding them from all participation in affairs of 



28 HISTORY OF POLAND. 

government. The protestants could not do other- 
wise than rise against this Jesuitical decree, and 
they demanded liberty of conscience, liberty of 
person, and freedom for the peasants. Civil dis- 
sensions continued, growing worse and worse, until 
the nation rose and expelled the Jesuits. They 
were driven from France in 1764:, and from other 
countries of Europe about the same time. Pope 
Clement XIV. issued his famous bull against them 
in 1773. He pronounced them " a political club 
under the cloak of religion, remorseless, avaricious, 
cruel, and desperately wicked ; guilty of crimes be- 
yond the power of the Pope or Church to forgive," 
&c. On signing this famous " Bull," " Dominus 
ac Redemtor," Clement said, with a sigh, " I sign 
my death warrant, but I obey my conscience." 

Great disaffection and internal convulsions 
paved the way for Poland to become the prey of the 
greedy nations around her. Russia (that, since Ivan 
III., had wished to occupy so many countries) de- 
termined to conquer Poland, and took Smolensk, 
Starodoub, and Kief, and incorporated them with 
the empire. From the time of Peter the Great, 
Russia dictated to Poland her laws, and finished by 
giving her crown according to her own ideas and 
caprices. Considerably reduced by the cessions 
successively made to nearly all the princes of the 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 29 

house of Romanoff, Poland had still, in A. D. 1772, 
a surface of nearly 13,155 square miles. Had she 
been organized in the interior, well-defended by 
fortresses, and, above all, united, she would still 
have had power to face all dangers ; but, without 
all such advantages, she was not to be feared by her 
numerous enemies. These concerted and signed in 
St. Petersburg, Sept. 5, 1772, a treaty of partition, 
which, in Jan., 1773, was made known to the Re- 
public, and to all Europe. The Diet was obliged 
to ratify this decision of the allies, which it did by 
an act of the 17th of May in the same year — just 
ninety years ago. Russia took the palatinates of 
Mscislaw, of Vitebsk, a part of Polotsk, and Polish 
Livonia. Austria, the palatinate of Russia, with 
parts of those of Podolia, of Sandomir, Lublin, and 
Cracow, and the rich and wonderful mines of 
Wieliczka and Bochnia. Prussia, the palatinate of 
Marienbourg and Kulm, Pomerania, the bishopric 
of Yiarmie, the districts of Michalow and Mtych, 
and Dantzic. 

There then remained to the Polish Republic 
only eight millions of its 22,336,416 of inhabit- 
ants, and 10,000 square miles. 

The second partition of Poland, concerted be- 
tween Russia and Prussia, took place in 1793, and 
the Diet of Grodno was obliged to ratify it. This 



30 HISTOET OF POLAND. 

time Russia gained 410 cities, 10,081 villages, and 
4,558 square miles, with 3,011,688 inhabitants. 
Prussia obtained the cities of Thorn, and the palat- 
inates of Posen, Gnezna, Inowroclaw, Brzesc in 
Kuiawy, Plock, and a part of Kalisz, of Sieradz and 
Rawa — in all, 252 cities, 8,274 villages, and 1,061 
square miles, with 1,136,489 inhabitants. What 
remained intact continued to be called the kingdom 
or republic of Poland. It contained still a little 
more than 4,000 square miles, with about 3,100,000 
inhabitants. But a third and last division put an 
end to this shadow of existence. This was consum- 
mated by the treaty concluded Oct. 24, 1775, be- 
tween Russia, Prussia, and Austria, in virtue of 
which Russia took all the rest of Lithuania and 
Yolynie ; Austria added to G-alicia all that remained 
of the palatinate of Cracow, of Sandomir, and Lu- 
blin, Chelm, Podlakhie, unto Niemirof, and a part 
of Masovia. The remainder, comprising the capital 
of "Warsaw, the rest of Kalisz, Cracow, Rawa, Pod- 
lakhie, Bialystock, and Augustow, fell to Prussia. 
All remained in this state till 1807, when the peace 
of Tilsit forced Prussia to cede Bialystock, and — 
without reviving the immortal name of Poland — it 
gave an independent existence to a great part of the 
provinces ceded in 1793 and 1795 to Austria and 
Prussia. This last power was not only obliged to 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 31 

restore to the grand duchy of Warsaw all that she 
had taken from it in 1795, but she was despoiled of a 
portion of Galicia that she had possessed since 1772 ; 
there remained to her only the provinces of the 
north. She lost Great Poland, Masovia, and Pod- 
lakhie. The new countries confided to the King of 
Saxony, with the title of grand duke, contained a 
population of 3,774,000 souls, upon 2,778 square 
miles. But this poor creation of Napoleon I. fell 
with him. April 1st, 1815, the Emperor Alexander 
I. wrote to the senate of Warsaw that he had taken 
the title of King of Poland, and that this new king- 
dom would be remitted to the empire. 

You have doubtless read of the horrible massa- 
cre of the barbarous SuwarafT, in 1794, who, at the 
head of 50,000 men, defeated the Poles at Praga, a 
large town of 30,000 inhabitants, on the Vistula, 
opposite Warsaw. Some twenty-eight years ago I 
conversed with a Russian, who was one of the offi- 
cers of Suwaraff at that time, who assured me that 
he never read, or heard, or saw anything so horri- 
ble. Even Russian officers were horror-struck at 
the brutality of SuwarafT, but were obliged to exe- 
cute his orders. In a word, every man, woman, 
and child were murdered, except some twenty-five 
persons who concealed themselves for two days- 
among the tombs of a church, and were thus saved 



32 HISTORY OF POLAND. 

from the Russian holocaust. Everything of value 
was plundered by the soldiers, and afterwards the 
city was burned to ashes. But I will not speak 
further of this horrible massacre and the appropria- 
tions that have been made of my dear country, till 
nothing is left us of our ancient glory, possessions, 
and liberties. This is written in history ; it is familiar 
to the civilized world. Neither will I dwell upon the 
sufferings we have endured: how we have been 
forced to leave our beloved Poland and wander in 
distant lands, far separated from home and friends, 
whenever it was known that the fire of liberty still 
burned within us, or be exiled to the inhospitable re- 
gions of Siberia and Kamszatka, or to end our days, 
perhaps, in mines of Arsenic : nor the savage murder 
by our oppressors of many dear relatives and friends. 
However little this may be realized by you, more 
free and happy American people, it is not all un- 
known. But as all that is past is irreparable, I 
leave it in the hands of God who judges nations as 
individuals, righteously, and who will in due time 
render to all according to their deeds. 

My special object is to speak on a very import- 
ant question of the present time, that seems to be 
but little understood in this country, — the emancipa- 
tion ly the Czar of Russia of the serfs' of his em- 
pire. As this emancipation includes, also, the peas- 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 33 

antry of that part of Poland that is under the do- 
minion of Russia, I consider it my duty as a Po- 
lander to make this subject as clear as possible, and 
tear off the mask of this so-called " great benefactor 
of the age." 

In treating of the subject of the enfranchisement 
of the serfs of Poland, it is necessary, first, to con- 
sider their origin and condition in the state of serf- 
dom. "We learn from history that from ancient 
time the Slavonians were an industrious, agricul- 
tural people, and, consequently, peaceful. As late 
as the seventh and eight centuries the chiefs of Po- 
land were elected from the people. Piast, who 
was the founder of a long line of chiefs, or princes, 
was a wheelwright. But, being surrounded by war- 
like nations, and their territory being the highway 
of barbarous hordes from Asia, they were obliged 
to defend themselves, or be swallowed up entirely ; 
and, by exercising themselves in the military art 
in self-defense, the people came, step by step, to be 
divided into two classes — men of the sword, nobility 
so called, and laborers ; the former, however, except 
in time of war, lived peacefully on their estates. 
The Polish nation increased and became powerful, 
and was organized as a kingdom ; but its army was 
very small in time of peace, being limited to the 
number necessary for kingly service and parade. 



34: HISTORY OF POLAND. 

When war was declared, the first class, or noblemen, 
were required to go to battle armed at their own 
expense. At the close of the war, the military citi- 
zens were rewarded for their services with large 
tracts of uninhabited land, also a number of pris- 
oners of war, according to the service of each, as 
was the custom of the time. We learn from history 
that, in the sixth century, when the Slavi made pris- 
oners of war they kept them a year, and then left it 
to their choice whether to live among them or re- 
turn to their native country. By which we see that 
they were humane toward their captives in that age 
of perpetual warfare, when slaves for labor and 
traffic were mostly taken from prisoners of war. In 
after times, when the Poles became a historical na- 
tion, we find no evidence of their enslaving prison- 
ers of war of other Slavonian nations or Germans ; 
but they used for service the captives taken from 
heathen nations. Even these were not treated as 
were prisoners taken captive by the nations around 
them. In Germany and France, the same class was 
taxed for the support of the government. In Po- 
land the prisoners of war mixed with the poor class 
of people, and were settled by their masters in log 
houses, and provided by them with agricultural 
implements and cattle, and given the use of a por- 
tion of land, according to their capacity and indus- 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 35 

try — from five to twenty-five acres usually, 
though sometimes as many as a hundred, for the 
use of which they paid their landlords a day's 
work for every iive acres of land, for ten acres a 
day's work and a beast of burden, and in that pro- 
portion, and were free from taxation. The rest of 
their time belonging to themselves, those who were 
industrious and frugal could soon earn sufficient to 
buy the land they occupied, and thus become free, 
with the title of proprietor, as many of the peas- 
antry of Kujavien and other places have done. If 
not, they remained in their humble, dependent posi- 
tion, without the title of citizen. But, as these 
people, after many generations, came to lose their 
origin, and became incorporated with the Polish 
nation, speaking the same language and having the 
same religion as their lords, the Polish citizens, the 
protestants especially,* resolved, at any sacrifice, to 
make them entirely free ! 

The law of the constitution of the 3d of May, 
1791, Under Stanislaus Augustus, concerning the 
peasants, reads as follows : 

Article TV. 
Whereas, the peasants constitute the principal 
strength of the nation, and from their hands flow 
into the country abundant riches, therefore, by jus- 
tice and Christian obligation and our own national 

* See page 28. 



36 HISTORY OF POLAND. 

interest, we receive them under the protection of the 
laws of the national government ; therefore, re- 
solved : That, from this day, whatever liberty and 
concession shall be given by the proprietors to the 
peasants, and whatever contracts shall be made be- 
tween them concerning property, we do lawfully 
and mutually agree that liberty and concessions 
shall be given; and this contract shall be made with 
the peasants, singly or collectively, and consti- 
tuting mutual and reciprocal responsibility accord- 
ing to the well understood condition of said con- 
tract, including the description of said contract, and 
shall be under the protection of the laws of the 
national government. Said agreement, and the du- 
ties resulting therefrom, freely accepted by the pro- 
prietors and their successors, shall so bind them 
that they cannot be arbitrarily changed. The peas- 
ants, on their part, no matter how their property 
may increase, cannot withdraw from this contract. 
But, as it is recorded for a certain time, or forever, 
his contract is obligatory. The proprietors thus 
have the assurance of their revenue, and, wishing 
more efficaciously the multiplication of the people 
of the kingdom, we proclaim entire liberty to all 
people of the country ', as well to the newly arrived 
as to returned emigrants, however long they have 
been absent ; in such manner that, from whatever 
country a man may come, or how long he may have 
been an emigrant, whenever his feet shall touch the 
soil of the Polish Republic he shall be entirely free 
— free to use his capacity in any business occupa- 
tion he may choose, how or where he will ; he is 
free to make any agreement for land, for work, &c, 
&c. He has liberty to settle in the country, in the 
village or city, as he pleases ; he is free to live in 
Poland, or return to any kingdom or other place he 
may choose, first satisfying the obligations under 
which he has placed himself, &c. 



BISTOEY OF POLAND. 37 

General Kosciusko, on his return from the United 
States, carried with him to Poland the fire of lib- 
erty ! He clothed himself in the costume of a Cra- 
covian peasant, and fought with the Russians for the 
liberty of the people. But, unfortunately, he fell 
into the hands of his enemies, and the question of 
the enfranchisement of the peasantry was postponed 
— not by the will of the true Polish people, but by 
their enemies. The insurrection of 1830-31 de- 
clared the freedom of the serfs ; but, as we failed to 
succeed in becoming independent, the Russian gov- 
ernment strictly forbade the execution of our noble 
purpose, and the enfranchisement of our dear people 
was again postponed. At the close of the war, the 
exiled Polish patriots concentrated in Paris, ap- 
pointed a committee of five to devise the best means 
to be used for the good of our country and the en- 
franchisement of our entire people. The eminent 
men who formed this committee were : John Xepo- 
mucen Janowski (Editor of the National Gazette at 
Warsaw), L'Abbe Pulaski, Pluzanski, Adam Gu- 
rowski, and Thadeus Krempowiecki. 

This Committee prepared a new and purely dem- 
ocratic constitution for the Polish nation, which was 
extensively circulated, and received with the great- 
est enthusiasm ! The time that was appointed by 
this Democratic Society for the completion of the 

4 



38 HISTOET OF POLAND. 

republic for which Kosciusko fought, was the year 
1846. Galicia, the republic of Cracow, and Posen, 
were first to set the example. The lords recognized 
the peasants as free citizens ; and all the world knew 
the fact that liberty was proclaimed to all the Po- 
lish serfs, " without money or price," — not by the 
Hussian Czar, but by the Polish citizens. But a 
cloud of blackness settled once more over our be- 
loved city of Cracow. The 23d of February, A. D. 
1846, 60,000 Kussians, 60,000 Austrians, and near 
as many Prussians, concentrated themselves upon 
that devoted city, and, after eleven days of heavy 
battles, our heroes were again dispersed ; the Eepub- 
lican government of Cracow was destroyed, and its 
territory subjugated by Austria. Polish Galicia 
was still more unfortunate. Metternich, at the com- 
mand of the Emperor Ferdinand, had given orders 
to set at liberty an infamous murderer named Szela, 
with many other prisoners, robbers and malefactors. 
They had authority to go from village to village in 
all the kingdom of Galicia, accompanied by the 
officers of government, disguised as peasants, and 
kill all the Democratic Polish nobles in Galicia. 
These commands were faithfully executed. The 
murderers, under the command of Szela, slew in a 
few nights more than 5,000 of the most noble Polish 
citizens. They were sawn asunder, cut to pieces 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 39 

with axes, pierced with bayonets, robbed, and other- 
wise maltreated in the presence of their families and 
friends ; their estates were confiscated and freely 
distributed among the peasants. Such was the gen- 
erous reward our nation received for the service ren- 
dered to Eoman Catholic Austria by John Sobieski 
and his army of 25,000 Poles, who, when Vienna 
was surrounded by an army of 200,000 Turks, in 
1683, fell upon them and routed them entirely, with 
great slaughter. But for their timely aid, there 
would not be to-day a shadow of the throne of the 
house of Hapsburgh. This inhuman act of violence 
by Austria animated the heart of the Czar Nicholas, 
and he seized upon the idea of doing the same in 
Eussian Poland. But the Almighty disposer of 
events did not suffer him to carry out his murderous 
plans. The sudden revolution of 1848, which shook 
all the thrones of Europe, and which did not end 
till the conclusion of the war at Sebastopol, made it 
necessary for him to defer the work, and his death 
shortly after prevented him from accomplishing 
his wicked intentions. But what Nicholas failed 
to accomplish, his son Alexander, on taking his place, 
made haste to do. Now to the point. The war of 
Sebastopol, in which Russia lost the best of her 
army — her disappointment in the politics of Austria 
— the hypocritical treatment of the English and 



40 HISTORY OF POLAND. 

French cabinets — the just claim of Sweden to Fin- 
land — near a century's war with Circassia without 
result — the revolutionary spirit in Siberia from the; 
time of the horrible murder of the Polish patriot 
Sierocinski * — the great dissatisfaction of the Cos- 
sacks, who are striving for their own independence — 
Poland and Lithuania requiring the constant watch- 
fulness of the army — and an enormous debt to the 
Rothschilds, made the proud Alexander tremble for 
his power, as if his throne had been in a volcano's- 
crater ; and, as the only refuge for the safety of his 
dynasty, he precipitated himself into "fee execution 
. of the purposes of his father. But it was necessary, 
of course, that his true motives should be concealed ;■ 
therefore, as lupics in pelle ovina, he thought it best 
to liberate the Russian serfs also, cherishing the 
hope of being able to satisfy his nobles by giving 
them the confiscated property of Poles who would 
refuse to submit to his decree. Then, the Polish 
noblemen stripped of their property, carried to Si- 
beria and Kamszatka, or murdered, would cease 
forever to be troublesome. The peasants, being 
made proprietors of their land by the Czar, would 
look upon him as their benefactor and father, and 



* See Thrilling and Instructive Developments, by the Author; 
Chap. vi. pp. 40 to 50. Boston, 1862. 



HISTORY OF POLAND. 41 

submit with docility to his rule, and still remain, 
according to Russian policy, uneducated and un- 
civilized . Russia, thus united and consolidated, 
would be powerful indeed, able to resist all foreign 
enemies combined, and the name of the Czar 
Alexander II. become great as a " benefactor," by 
distributing property not his own ! And he has 
succeeded well, as all know, in making himself be- 
lieved in these enlightened United States to be a 
" philanthropist of the highest order." 

Otherwise, Poland, by freeing her peasants law- 
fully, as we have shown she had long endeavored 
to do, giving them education, and all privileges 
indispensable to free and full citizenship, would 
attach them permanently to herself by gratitude, 
and become too powerful and enlightened to be kept 
longer in subjugation. "Worst of all, the society of 
Bakunin, the members of which are widely spread 
through the Russian Empire, one in spirit and 
purpose with our Polish Democratic body, joined 
with us, could easily make an end of the power of 
the house of Romanoff. Both the Czar and Poland 
understand this question well. The unusual conscrip- 
tion of the Polish nobles in January last was the 
commencement .of the execution of the purpose of 
the Czar in respect to Poland. The circulars of the 
secret address of the Director of the police, Mucha- 



42 HISTOEY OF POLAND. 

noff, to his agents, to " stir up the peasants against 
the Polish proprietors," prove that the conspiracy 
of which we have spoken to you is not a dream of 
the imagination. One of these circulars, having 
been divulged, caused so much irritation, that Mucha- 
noff was compelled to leave Warsaw. The Polish 
nation could not go, unresisting,, into this last trap, 
so ingeniously, so diabolically set for her complete 
destruction ; could not yield up to oppressing Eussia 
her last vestige of hope without a struggle — if only 
a death struggle ; she could not but resist ; and how 
she has done, is still doing, this, trusting only in the 
help of Heaven, everybody knows. Torrents of 
blood are already flowing, and God only can foresee 
what will be the end of the struggle. May He be 
merciful to my poor oppressed country, that her 
people may have the opportunity to prepare them- 
selves for the true service of God, and His everlast- 
ing kingdom. And may you, also, dear readers, 
give to the Czar his due, and Poland her honor and 
your sympathy. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

OF THE 

SOVEREIGNS OF POLAND, 

AND THE PKINCIPAL EVENTS IN THE REIGN OF EACH. 



EPOCH I. 



From Lech to Mieczyslas, 550 to 965. 
FABULOUS CHRONICLE OF PAGAN POLAND. 

A. JD. YEARS, 

550 LECH I., the first Polish Prince. 

Wizymir, founder of the city of Wismar. 

Twelve Governors. 

700 KRAKUS, founder of Cracow, reigned 28 

LECH II., reigned 2 

130 PRINCESS WANDA, daughter of Krakus, reigned. 10 

Twelve Governors again, reigned 10 

T50 PRZEMYSLAS GOLDSMITH, under the name of 

Leszek L, reigned 34 

784 LESZEK II., reigned 16 

800 LESZEK III, " 15 

815 POPIEL I., son of Leszek III., reigned 15 

830 POPIEL II., reigned 18- 

PERIOD FIRST.— Conquering Poland— Independent Kings. 

PIAST DYNASTY. 

860 ZIEMO WIT, son of Piast and Rzepicha, reigned... 31 

892 LESZEK IV., son of Zieinowit, reigned 29 

921 ZIEMOMYSL, son of Leszek IV., reigned 41 

962 MIECZYSLAS I., son of Ziemomysl and Gorka 

(born A. D. 931), first Catholic Prince. His wife, 
Dombrowka, was daughter of Boleslas, Prince 
of Bohemia ; reigned 30 



44 CHEONOLOGICAL TABLE 

EPOCH II. 

From the Baptism of Mieczyslas L, 965, to 1139. 

A. D. TEARS. 

992 BOLE SL AS THE GREAT, son of Mieczyslas 

and Dombrowka, first crowned monarch ; con- 
quered Silesia and the Carpathian Mountains, 
Pomerania, Moravia, Lusatia, Servia, <fec, reigned 33 

1025 MIECZYSLAS II., son of Boleslas the Great, " 9 

After his death, his wife, Ryxa, fled with her 
son, Kaziniir, to Germany, on which account 
there was an interregnum of five years. During 
this time there was great confusion in Poland. The 
Polish pagans revenged the blood spilt under 
Mieczyslas I. ; rose, murdered the priests, and re- 
duced the churches to ashes, and took the rest of 
the royal treasure which Ryxa was unable to take 
with her. Maslaw, a Chief, saved the nation. 

1040 ■ KAZIMIR I., called the Monk, son of Mieczyslas 

II. and Ryxa, restored Poland, and reigned 18 

Reconquered Silesia. 

1058 BOLESLAS THE BRAVE, son of Kaziniir I. and 

Mary Dobrogniewa, daughter of Jaroslaw, a Rus- 
sian Prince, reigned 22 

1070 Retook Przemysl, Red Russia and Kijovia City. 
10*73 Volynia was united with Poland. 

1081 WLADISLAS HERMAN, brother of Boleslas the 

Brave, reigned 21 

1081 Poland lost Red Russia. 

1102 BOLESLAS III., son of Wladislas Herman and 

Judith, daughter of Venceslas, a Bohemian Prince, 

reigned 37 

1108 The Province of Spisk was given to Stephen, son of 

Koloman, a Hungarian King. 
1119 Pomerania was reconquered. 

1121 Lusitania and the Island of Rugia, and all provinces 
lying between them, were conquered. 



OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF POLAND. 45 

EPOCH III. 

From 1139 to 1333. 
POLAND DIVIDED, BY BOLESLAS. 

A. D, YEARS* 

1 139 WLADISLAS II., son of Boleslas III. and Zbislawa, 

reigned 9 

He married Agnes, an Austrian Princess. She 
did not like the Poles, ridiculed their costume and 
habits, and so irritated the nation that both her- 
self and husband were dethroned and cast out of 
the kingdom. 

1148 BOLESLAS IV., brother of Wladislas IL, reigned 25 

He was not able to resist German covetousness, 
and humiliated himself and the nation by signing 
1157 an ignominious peace in Krysgow. 

llta MIECZYSLAS III., son of Boleslas III. and Sal- 

oma, Princess of Bergen, reigned 4 

He loved to display the dignity of a monarch, 
and for this reason the magnates and bishops dis- 
liked and dethroned him. 

1H7 KAZIMIR II., son of Boleslas III. and Saloma, 

reigned IT 

His wife was Helena, a Russian Princess. 

1194 LESZEK BIALY, Mieczyslas III. and Wladislas 

Laskonogi, reigned alternately 13 

1207 LESZEK BIALY, who was son of Kazimir II. and 

Helena, a Russian Princess, reigned a second time, 20 
1207 He gave Masovia to his brother Conrad. 
1219 The Duchy of Polock was taken by Lithuania. 

1221 Skirmund, the Prince of Lithuania, conquered Mozyr, 

Starodub, Czernichow, and Siewierz. 

1222 The Province of Dobrzyn was given by Prince Con- 

rad to the Knights Templars of Inflant. 

1225 Prince Conrad introduced the Crusaders into Poland, 

and gave them the land of Chelm. 

1226 Pomerania and Dantzic were taken by Swiatapelck. 



46 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

A. D. TEARS. 

1227 BOLESLAS V., son of Leszek Bialy and Saloma. 

reigned 52 

His wife was Cunegunda, daughter of Beli, King 
of Hungary. She discovered the salt mines of 
of Wieliczka and Bochnia. 

1241 Podlakhie was taken by Lithuania. 

1244 The City of Lublin was taken by Daniel Romano wicz, 
Prince of Halick. 

1264 Podlakhie was again united to Poland. Boleslas V. 
governed very miserably. In his reign the Cru- 
saders, Tartars, Lithuanians, and Germans, plun- 
dered Poland freely ! 

12*70 The provinces of Odra, Warta, Lubush, Krosno, and 
the rest of the Lusatian provinces, were mortgaged 
to Bohemia. Boleslas died childless. 

1279 LESZEK CZARNY, Prince of Sieradz, son of Kazi- 

mir, Prince of Kujavia, and cousin of Conrad, 

Prince of Masovia, reigned 10 

His wife, Gryfina, a Russian Princess, had no 
children. She wished to give the throne to Ven- 
ceslas, King of Bohemia, but Poland opposed her. 

1290 HENRY PROBUS, son of the Prince of Breslau, 

who died in the first year of his reign, reigned ... 1 

1 295 PRZEMYSL AS, son of Przemyslas, Prince of Posen, 

and grandson of Wladislas, Prince of Grand Po- 
land (there were two other pretenders to the 
crown, Wladislas, Lokietek, and Venceslas, King 

of Bohemia), reigned 1 

His wife, Ludgarda, a Slavonian, was choked to 
death in Posen. His second wife was Ryxa, a 
Swedish Princess, whose daughter, of the same 
name, was married to Venceslas, King of Bo- 
hemia. 

1296 WLADISLAS LOKIETEK, brother of Leszek Czar- 

ny, who was dethroned, reigned 4 

1298 A part of Pomerania, was taken by the Crusaders. 
1300 VENCESLAS, King of Bohemia, who reigned in Po- 
land 5 



OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF POLAND. 47 

A. D. TEAKS. 

1302 Lublin was reconquered by Venceslas. 

1303 The Crusaders appropriated the province of Micha- 

low. 

1306 WLADISLAS LOKIETEK was crowned the second 

time, and reigned 27 

His first wife, Hedwig, daughter of Boleslas, 
Prince of Kalisz, was the mother of Kazimir the 
Great and Elizabeth, wife of Robert, King of 
Hungary. 
1310 The Crusaders took, treacherously, Dantzic and 
Pomerania. 

1319 Brzesc in Lithuania, Drochiczyn and Luck were taken 

by G-edyniin, Grand Duke of Lithuania. 

1320 He took also Volynia. 

1331 Olgierd, Grand Duke of Lithuania, extended the do- 

minion of his Duchy to the Black Sea, and the 
Tartars of Crimea submitted to his rule. 

1332 Pomerania and Kujavia were taken by the Crusaders. 

EPOCH IV. 

From Kazimir the Great to Sigismund III., 1333 to 1586. 

POLAND FLOURISHING. 

1333 KAZIMIR THE GREAT, son of Wladislas Lo- 

Metek 3*7 

1340 Kazimir United Red Russia to Poland after the death 
of the Russian Prince Boleslas. 

1343 By the stipulation of the peace of Kalish, Kazimir 
abandoned his claim to Silesia, and regained Ku- 
javia and Dobrzyn. Pomerania, Dantzic and Chelm 
were left to the Crusaders. 

1345 j Wschowa (Froustad) was reunited to Poland, and the 

City of Swidnica was lost. 

1346 The Republics of Pskow and Nowogrod became trib- 

utary to Lithuania, &c. 
1364 University of Cracow was founded. 



48 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 



X. D. 

1365 Ino Wroclaw, Bydgoszcz and Gniewkow, were united 
to Poland. Kazimir had no sons, and the male line 
of Piast became extinct at his death, which oc- 
curred in 1370. 
1370 LOUIS, son of Robert, king of Hungary, and Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Wladislas Lokietek, and sister 
of Kazimir the Great (according to the wish of 
Kazimir), became King of Poland, and reigned. ... 12 

His second wife, Elizabeth of Bosnia, was the 
mother of Hedwig, who was born 1372, and mar- 
ried to "Wladislas Jagellon, a Lithuanian prince in 
1386, by which marriage Poland and Lithuania 
were united in one kingdom. 

THE JAGELLON DYNASTY. 

1386 WLADISLAS JAGELLON, born in 1348, son of 

Olgerdo, who was nephew of Godymir, Grand 
Duke of Lithuania, and Mary, princess of Tiversk, 
reigned 48 

1386 Smolensk, Wallachia and Moldavia, became tributary 
to Poland. 

1410 There was a great victory over the Crusaders near 
Grunvald. 

1412 The Starosty of Spisk was mortgaged to Poland by 
Sigismund, King of Hungary, for 2,400,000 gross 
of Praga. 

1434 WLADISLAS III., Warnenius, son of Wladislas 

Jagellon and Sophie his fourth wife, who was a 
Russian princess, reigned 10 

1440 He was crowned in Buda, with the crown of St. 
Stephen, as King of Hungary also. 

1442 The Turks, after a severe battle with the Poles, sued 
for a peace of ten years' duration, which was grant- 
ed. Each nation swore to keep the peace, the 
Poles by the Gospel, the Turks by the Koran. 
This was unsatisfactory to the Pope, Eugenius IV.,* 

* Eugenius IV., alias Gabriel Condelmere, formerly Cardinal of St. Clement, 
was a bastard of Pope Gregory the XII. and a Benedictine nun. — Cormenin, 
History of the Popes. 



OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF POLAND. 49 

A. D. YEARS. 

and he absolved Wladislas from his oath, and forced 
him at the expiration of two years to break his 
oath with the "Infidels," and reopen the war. 
The two armies met at Varna, near the Black Sea. 
The Turkish army formed a crescent, in the centre 
of which was erected a pole, to which was attached 
the treaty of peace between Turkey and Poland. 
Wladislas was unwilling- to disobey the Pope's 
Legate, Cardinal Julian Cesarini, who was present 
there ; the Turks then commenced the battle with 
great fury. Wladislas, the King, was killed, and 
his head cut off and displayed in view of the Turkish 
army ! 
1444 KAZIMIR JAGELLON, brother of Wladislas, reig'd 48 

1453 He bought the principality of Oswiecim. 

1462 The principalities of Rava and Belsk were also united 
to Poland. 

1466 By the treaty of Torun, the Crusaders abandoned 
Pomerania, Dantzic, Chelm, Warmia and Malberg. 

1473 Nicholas Copernicus was born in Torun. 

14*78 Russia conquered Great Novgorod. 

1484 Bialygrod (Akerman) and Kilia, Polish ports on the 
Black Sea, were taken by the Turks. 
1492 JOHN ALBERT, son of Kazimir Jagellon, and Eliza- 
beth, daughter of the Emperor Albert. He died 
unmarried. Reigned 9 

1494 Starodoub, Bransk and many other provinces were 
taken b}^ the Russians. 

1494 John Albert bought, for 80,000 ducats, the Duchy of 

Zator. 

1495 The Duchy of Plock was joined to the crown. John 

Albert was the first monarch who organized a 
standing army of 1,600 horse. 
1497 There was a gre it massacre of the nobles in the 
forest of Bukowina, by the peasants. 

1501 ALEXANDER, brother of John Albert, reigned. . . 5 

and died without posterity. His wife was daugh- 
ter of Prince Ivan Wasilewicz. 



50 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

A. D. YEARS. 

1501 Prince Glinski conquered the Tartars near Klecko. 
1506 John Lacki collected the statutes of the kingdom 
and printed them. 

1506 SIGISMUND L, fifth son of Kazimir Jagellon, reig'd 42 

His first wife was Barbara Zapolska, the mother 
of Hedwig, who was married to the Elector of 
Brandeburg. His second wife was Bona Sforcia, 
princess of Milan. She was the mother of Sigis- 
mund Augustus, who was born 1526. 

1509 The Republic of Pskow was taken by Russia. 

1514 By the treachery of Glinski, Smolensk fell into the 
hands of Russia. 

1525 The principality of Prussia was taken from the Cru- 
saders and given to Albert, nephew of Sigismund 
I. From that time the provinces of Pomerania and 
Dantzic took the name of Royal Prussia, and Prus- 
sia proper the name of Duchy of Prussia. 

1526. Sigismund gave the provinces of Lavenburg and 
Bytow to his nephews the princes of Pomerania, 
Isodore and Barnimow. 

1531 There was a great victory of the Poles over Volo- 
shian, near Oberlin. 

1537 A rebellion broke out in the small town of Gliniany, 
near Lemberg. 

1548 SIGISMUND AUGUSTUS, son of Sigismund I. and 

Bona Sforcia. He had three wives, but no chil- 
dren. Reigned 24 

1556 Bona Sforcia took the principal part of the royal 
treasure and fled to Italy. This treasure was never 
returned. 

1561 The Order of Gladiators' ceased to exist. Livonia 
was retaken. Gothar Ketller, Grand Master of 
the Crusaders, received, by Feudal Law, Kurland 
and Semigallia. 

1563 The Russians took Polotsk. 

1569 The union between Poland and Lithuania was estab- 
lished. Podlakhie, Volhynia, Podolia, and Ukraine 
were reunited to Poland. 



OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF POLAND. 51 



ELECTIVE KINGS. 

1574 HENRY WALESIUS, son of Charles IX., King- of 

France, reigned five months. 

1575 STEPHEN BATOR Y, Voievod of Transylvania, 

reigned 11 

1578 Russia took all Livonia, except Riga and Rewla. 
1582 By the treaty of Zapole, Polotsk and Livonia were 
joined again to Poland. 

EPOCH V. 

From Sigismund III. to the last division of Poland, 1586 to 1795. 

DECADENCE OF POLAND. 

1586 SIGISMUND III., son of John Vaza, a Swedish 

prince royal, and Catharine, daughter of Sigis- 
mund I. and Bona Sforcia, reigned 45 

1588 John Zamoy ski took Maximilian, Arch-duke "of Aus- 
tria, prisoner, and routed the Austrians, with 
great slaughter, near Pitchen. 

1605 Gen. Chodkiewicz conquered Charles Suderman near 

Kirchholm. 

1606 Revolt of Lord Zebrzydowski. 

1610 Great victory over the Russians by Zolkiewski. The 

city of Moscow taken. Wladislas, son of Sigis- 
mund III., chosen Czar of Russia. 

1611 Smolensk was taken by the Poles, with great 

slaughter. 

1612 Sigismund, incited by the Jesuits, in his great anxi- 

ety to convert Russia to Catholicism, imprisoned 
the Russian ministers, and acted in other respects 
contrary to the interests of Poland, and of his son, 
the Russian Czar. The Russians, enraged, drove 
Wladislas from the throne, and all troublesome 
Poles from Moscow, and called to the throne the 
house of Romanoff. A useful lesson for Poland- 
ers! 
1619 The principalities of Siewierz, Czernichow, Smolensk, 



52 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

A. D. TEARS;. 

and Starodoub, by the treaty of Diwilin, were re- 
united to Poland. Wallachia and Moldavia were 
given by treaty to Turkey. 

1620 Stanislas Zolkiewski lost a great battle near Cekora, 

and himself perished. 

1621 Charles Chodkiewicz died in the famous battle with 

the Turks near Chocim. Livonia, Riga, and a 
part of Prussian Poland were taken by the Swedes, 
and, by the treaty of 1629, were left to Sweden. 

1632 WLADISLAS IV., son of Sigismund III. and Anne, 

an Austrian Princess, reigned 16 

1634 By the treaty of peace of Warn, Michael Federowicz 
renounced his claim to Smolensk, Siewierz, Czerni- 
chow, Livonia, and Estonia. By the treaty of 
peace in Stumsdorf, in 1635, a part of Prussian Po- 
land was again united to the crown. 

1637 The provinces of Lavenbourg and Bytow were united 

to Poland. 

1638 The Cossacks rebelled, but were punished severely, 

and order was restored. 

1648 JOHN KAZIMIR, cardinal, brother of Wladislas 

IV., reigned 20 

He married Mary Lois, widow of "Wladislas, 
princess of Mantua. 
1654 Czar Alexis Michalowicz took Smolensk. The Cos- 
sacks, under the rebel Cmielnicki, submitted them- 
selves to Russia. 

1656 Czarnecki oonquered Sweden. By the treaty of 

Welaw, which was confirmed at Bydgoszcz, the 
duchy of Prussia was freed from Poland, with the 
condition that; when the house of Brandeburg 
should become extinct, the duchy should return to 
Poland. But, by the treaty of Warsaw, 1115, Po- 
land was obliged to renounce the privilege that the 
treaty of Welaw accorded her. The provinces of" 

1657 Lavenburg and Bytow were given by feudal law to 
Frederic William, with the obligation to pay trib- 
ute to the Polish crown.. 



OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF POLAND. 53 

A. D. YEAES. 

1658 A part of the Cossacks were united to Poland by the 
treaty concluded in Hadziacz. 

1660 By the peace of Olive, the independence of Prussia 
was acknowledged, Livonia was taken by Russia, 
except a small part near Dzwina, called Polish Li- 
vonia, which continued a part of Poland till 1672. 
Curland and Semigalia were taken in 1*795 by 
Russia. 

1667 By the treaty of Andruszow, Ukraine, Smolensk, and 
Czernichow were given to Russia. The Cossacks 
united with the Turks. John Kazimir, cardinal, 
renounced his crown, and finished his life in 
France, as priest and abbot of St. Martin. This 
painful tragedy is another lesson for Polanders. 

1668 MICHAEL WISNIOWIECKI, son of Prince Jeremiah 

"Wisniowiecki, a successful general, reigned 5 

To reward his great services to the kingdom, his 
son was proclaimed king. His wife was Eleonora, 
daughter of Ferdinand III., Emperor of Austria. 
After his death she married Charles V., prince of 
Lorraine. 

1672 A part of Ukraine and Kamieniec, in Podolia, were 
taken by the Turks. 

1673 JOHN SOBIESKI, general, elected at the age of 

forty -nine years, reigned 23 

His wife was Marie Casimira, daughter of the 
Marquis de Bethune. 

1683 He gained a great victory over the Turks. At the 
head of 25,000 Poles and 30,000 allies, he defeated 
280,000 Turks, who had surrounded Vienna, and 
saved Austria. 
1696 AUGUSTUS II., Elector of Saxony, reigned 36 

1699 By the treaty of Karlowice, the principality of Podo- 
lia and Kamieniec were joined again to Poland. 

1702 A great battle with the Swedes, near Klisow. 
1705 CHARLES XII., King of Sweden, proclaimed Stan- 
islas Leszczynski, Voievod of Posen, King of Po- 
land, reigned 4 

5* 



54 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 

a. d. tears; 

His wife was Opalinska, a Polish lady. His 
daughter Mary married Louis XV. of France, since 
canonized St. Louis. 

1709 AUGUSTUS II., after the great battle with the 

Swedes, returned to Poland. 

1733 AUGUSTUS III., son of Augustus II. and Chris- 
tina Eberhard, princess of Beiruth, reigned 30 

His wife was Mary Josephine, daughter of 
Joseph, Emperor of Austria. His son Charles was 
prince of Kurland. 

1764 STANISLAS AUGUSTUS PONIATOWSKI, son 

of the Grand Castellan of Cracow and Princess 

Czartoryska, reigned 32 

1112, The first division of Poland took place. 

1793 The second division. 

1 794 The insurrection of Kosciuszko. 

1795 The third division. Great battle in Praga. King 

Stanislas was taken prisoner to St. Petersburg, 
where he died and was buried. 



After the battles of Jena and Auersadt Napoleon I. entered 
Posen, and created the Duchy of Warsaw. 

1809 Prince Joseph Poniatowski took from Austria the provinces 
of Cracow, Sandomir, Lublin, and the west part of Galicia, 
<fec. 2,000,000 of people were joined then to the Duchy of 
Warsaw. 

1812 Napoleon was defeated in Russia. 

1814 Great battle near Liepsic. Prince Joseph Poniatowski was 

wounded in battle, and, in attempting to cross the river 
Elster on horseback, was drowned. 

1815 The congress of Vienna created, from the Duchy of Warsaw, 

Little Poland, the Republic of Cracow, and Grand Duchy 
of Posen. 
1830 Nov. 29, great insurrection in Warsaw. The Polish army 
drawn from the camp of Bolimow was composed of 47,669 
infantry, 9,284 cavalry, and 2,875 artillery. In the prov- 
inces of Cracow and Sandomir there was a corps of 



OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF POLAND. 55' 



several thousand men, composed, in part, of regular troops.. 
Besides these, we had in our hands the strong places of 
Praga, of Modlin, and of Zamosc, with their garrisons, the 
number of soldiers amounting to 12,000. Many corps of 
partisans fought, also,' in different parts of the country. 
The field artillery had more than 150 pieces of cannon, and 
the ramparts of the capital were covered with 120 pieces 
of ordinance. The greatest enthusiasm reigned at War- 
saw. All waited for the attack of the enemy as the time 
of triumph for Poland. The war was conducted with 
much brilliancy for nine months. But the spirit of diplo- 
macy on one hand,* and treachery on the other, influ- 
enced by the gold of Nicholas, and personal ambition, 
ended the war unfortunately to us. 
1831 Sept. 6th. Toward five o'clock P. M. ProndzynsM, who, as 
Krukowiecki had not appeared on the field of battle, but 
had only promenaded from the camp of the enemy to the 
palace of government, who had calumniated the national 
army by saying that it had not intended to fight, returned 
to the Diet, accompanied by the Russian General Berg, to 
frighten it with the 60,000 infantry of the enemy and two 
lines of artillery ready for the assault, while the prisoners 
of war and some deserters asserted that they were already 
lacking in ammunition and provisions. The Diet replied : 
"The representatives of the nation will await the events 
of the assault." While this was passing Krukowiecki, 
plotting the basest treason, resigned, and took again his 
commission. Being authorized at last to conclude an 
arrangement tending to pacification ("wejsc w uklady 
donzonce do ukonczenia walki"), he wrote in French the 
following letter of submission to the Czar, which he deliv- 
ered to Paskiewicz : " Sir : Being intrusted at this time 
with power to speak to your Imperial and Royal Majesty 
in the name of the Polish nation, I address myself through 
his Excellency Count Paskiewicz cFErivan, marshal, to 



* Adam Czartoryski, in his note to the French cabinet, says: " We could have 
given a mortal blow to our enemies had we not counted upon diplomacy." 



56 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 



D. 



1831 your paternal heart. In submitting, without condition, 
to your Majesty and our king, the Polish nation knows 
that she only can forget the past, and heal the deep wounds 
which have lacerated my country. Signed, Count John 
Krukowiecki, General of Infantry, President of Govern- 
ment." In awaiting the response, the contracting parties 
concealed the conditions under which Warsaw was to be 
evacuated, and after which the Polish army was to proceed 
to the palatinate of Plock. The next day, which was the 
8th of Sept., the enemy were to occupy the capital. The 
Diet knew nothing of this, and apparently believed that a 
decisive compromise could not be concluded without its 
preliminary ratification, as one of its previous laws re- 
quired ; and, when Count Vladislas Ostrowski, marshal, 
learned before ten o'clock the same evening that Kruko- 
wiecki had given the troops orders to commence the retreat 
upon Prague, in virtue of a secret arrangement, the mar- 
shal went to him immediately, and after giving him to 
understand that he had abused his power, he asked him 
to make known the conditions of the concluded convention. 
Krukowiecki replied : " Nothing has been done ; hear this 
connonade ; see this conflagration ; it is thus that Paskie- 
wicz accepts the propositions with which I charged General 
Prondzynski !" " "What propositions ? " repeated the mar- 
shal of the Diet. " This morning," continued Krukowiecki, 
" You refused advantageous arrangements ; at present I 
offer complete submission, and the Russians will no more 
- accept it." After this declaration Ostrowski summoned 
him to give his resignation by writing, and gave him to 
understand that in ten hours his power would be at an 
end. He returned to the Diet, and, after exposing the 
state of things, proceeded to the nomination of the Nuncio 
of Warta, Bonaventura Memoiowski, as president of gov- 
ernment. Towards midnight the two negotiators, Pron- 
dzynski and Berg, returned to the Russian camp to sign 
decisively the compromise. The position of the new gov- 
ernment was difficult. The retreat upon Prague had com- 
menced six hours before, and the defense of the city in 



OF THE SOVEREIGNS OF POLAND. 57 



many places abandoned by order of Krukowiecki. For this 
reason, the temporary commander in chief was not able to 
make an efficient resistance to the assault, which might be 
very soon renewed, especially as the guard of surety had 
not been called to the defense of the barricades, and could 
not be immediately assembled. On the other hand, the 
conditions proposed were incompatible with the national 
honor. In this disagreeable position, Berg made known 
to the new president that he would have to do only with 
Krukowiecki, who was absent. He was sent for, but could 
not be found. The temporary commander in chief, the 
aged General Kazimir Malachowski, felt the necessity of 
signing a letter addressed to Paskiewicz, in which, to save 
the city, he promised him to leave it without delay, and 
Praga also, and to deliver it and the bridge to the enemy ; 
he reserved the right to take away all the baggage and 
military materials, and every body was to be permitted to 
follow freely the Polish army during forty-eight hours. 
These conditions were accepted, but not fulfilled. No one 
dreamed that the defense of "Warsaw would have so sad a 
result. 100,000 Polish soldiers crossed the frontier in dif- 
ferent places, many of whom have died in exile ! Many, 
however, still live in hope of yet seeing beloved Poland 
free and independent. See " Les Derniers Momens de la 
Revolution de Pologne en 1831." Par Jean N". Janowski, 
ci devant fonctionnaire au ministere des finances et re- 
dacteur de la Gazette de Pologne, &c. Chez J. P. Auger r 
Paris, 1833. 

1837 March. — Horrible judicial murder in Siberia of the leaders of 
a contemplated insurrection. Viz. : Sierocinski, Druz- 
halowski, Jablonski, Szokalski, Zagorski and Mieldyn. 
(See Thrilling and Instructive Developments, by the Au- 
thor, chap. vi. p. 40. Boston, 1862. Published by G. C. 
Rand and Avery, Cornhill, Boston, Mass.) 

1846 February 23d. Insurrection in Cracow and Galicia, under 
Dictator Tysowski, Charles Rogawski (Secretary of State), 
Louis Mazaraki (Commander of the army in Cracow), 
Leon Okszyc Czechowski (Commander of the army in 



58 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 



Tarnow), <fec. 20,000 Polish insurgents in Cracow, with 
five cannon, three being of wood, disarmed and drove the 
Austrians from the Republic. But, after eleven days of 
heavy battles with 60,000 Russians and 60,000 Austrians, 
the small Polish army was defeated. 

We can hardly describe the bravery of the Cracovian 
Israelites in 1846 and '48, and their great sacrifices. Many 
were slain in the streets of Cracow and Kazimierz, and 
thousands, in common with other Polish patriots, are now 
in exile. Our fatherland is theirs also; for it they are 
still ready to suffer and die, as are we. 

The Grand Duchy of Posen was not more fortunate. 
The Commander-in-Chief, Mr. Louis Miroslawski, was 
treacherously delivered to the Prussian Government, with 
all the plans of the intended siege. Many were thereby 
compromised. Hipolite Trompczynski assumed a com- 
mand, in order to deliver Miroslawski from prison and open 
the insurrection in Posen. In crossing a bridge in a car- 
riage, with three other officers, they were fired upon by 
Prussian soldiers, the companions of Trompczynski were 
killed, and he was wounded in the throat and taken to 
prison. 

1848 Insurrection in Grand Duchy of Posen, under Louis Miro- 
slawski, and in Cracow. After three heavy battles near 
Sroda, Wrzesnia, and Miroslaw, the Polish army was dis- 
persed. 

1850 The City of Cracow was burned to ashes by the Austrians. 



STATISTICS OF POLAND, 

According to the limits established in A, D, 1772, before the first 
DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM, 



Extent and Population of Poland, in A. D. 1772, divided in three parts, viz. 



PROVINCES UNDER DOMINION OF 


Square miles 15 to 
one degree. 


Population. 


To a square Mile. 




11.292 

L52S 

1,664 

21 


15,417,389 
4,226,969 

2,584,124 
107,934 


1,365 
2,766 
1,552 
5139 












Total 


14,505 


22,336,416 


1.540 







B. 

Division of Inhabitants according to their Religion. 





Catholic 


Unite- 
Greek. 


Greek 
Protes't. 


Roscu- 
lanes. 


Luth. & 
Calvin. 


Jews. 


Mus- 
sul- 
mans. 


Totals. 




5,600,000 

1,500,000 

1,350,000 

110,000 


1,740,000 
2,000,000 


3,230,000 
200,000 


180,000 


900,000 


1,700,000 


50,000 


13,400,000 

4,000,000 

2,700,000 

122,000 




300,000 
100.000 






........ 

1,250.000 


Republic of Cracow. 


1,000 






1,000 10,000 






Total 


8 ; 560,000 


3,741,000 


3 430,000 180,000 

1 


2 151,000 2,110,000 

1 


50,000 


20,222,000 



c. 

Division of Inhabitants according to their Language. 





Polish. 


Lithu- 
anians. 


Ruthen- 
ians. 


Ger- 
mans. 


He- 
brews. 


Walla- 

chians. 


Mus- 
covites. 


Totals. 




3,750.000 
1,700 000 


1,700,000 


5 620 000 


400,000 

50,000 

100.000 

1,000 


1,700,000, 50,000 
300,000: 50,000 


180,000 


13,400,000 
4,000,000 




.Jl.900.000 




1,210,000 200 00o!.'. 


2,700,000 
122,000 


Republic of Cracow. 


111,000 




10,<<00 














Total 


6,771.000'l,900.000 7,520,000 


551 .000 


2,010,000 i 100,000 


180,000 


20,222,000 




! ' 1 






313 92 



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